''Tough as Iron'' () is a 2013 South Korean

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by Ahn Gwon-tae, starring

Yoo Ah-in Uhm Hong-sik (; born October 6, 1986), known professionally as Yoo Ah-in (), is a South Korean actor, creative director, and gallerist. He is known for playing a diverse spectrum of roles in both television and film, where he often portrays dyn ...

and

Kim Hae-sook Kim Hae-sook (; born December 30, 1955) is a South Korean actress. Career In 1974, she made her acting debut in MBC's ''Chief Inspector''. Over the past decade, she has won over 10 awards and appeared in over 30 films. Kim Hae-sook has publis ...

in the title role.

Plot

Gang Cheol (whose name means "iron" in

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

) was once a legendary street gangster in

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

, but he put away his fists and cleaned up his act for the sake of his mother Soon-i, who has

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

. Things are going well for him; he now works as a

stevedore A dockworker (also called a longshoreman, stevedore, docker, wharfman, lumper or wharfie) is a waterfront manual laborer who loads and unloads ships. As a result of the intermodal shipping container revolution, the required number of dockwork ...

at a loading dock and is pursuing a relationship with Soo-ji, a free-spirited woman from

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

vacationing in the port city. But Soon-i is diagnosed with kidney failure and needs an expensive organ transplant that he cannot afford. Knowing that Cheol is desperate for money, local gang leader Sang-gon proposes that Cheol come work for him and his brother Hwi-gon. At first Cheol refuses, but when his debt-ridden best friend Jong-soo gives the deed to Cheol's house to Sang-gon as collateral for a private loan, he's left with no choice but to get dragged back into Busan's criminal underworld. Cheol is ordered to kill a visiting Japanese

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

boss whose death will enable Sang-gon's ascension within the Korean branch of the mob organization.

Cast

as Gang Cheol *

as Kim Soon-i *

Kim Jung-tae Kim Jung-tae (born Kim Tae-wook on December 13, 1972) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his supporting roles on film and television. Career He made his acting debut in 1999 with the film ''The Uprising'' under his birth name Kim Tae ...

as Sang-gon *

Kim Sung-oh Kim Sung-oh (; born September 15, 1978) is a South Korean actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium ...

as Hwi-gon * Jung Yu-mi as Jo Soo-ji *

Lee Si-eon Lee Si-eon (born Lee Bo-yeon on July 3, 1982) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his comic supporting role in the popular campus drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance ...

as Jong-soo *

Shin Jung-geun Shin Jung-geun (; born September 26, 1966) is a South Korean actor. He is most active as a supporting actor in films such as '' Running Turtle'' (2009), '' In Love and War'' (2011), '' The Grand Heist'' (2012), and '' The Five'' (2013), as well ...

as Yagami *

Bae Seul-ki Bae Seul-ki (, born September 27, 1986) is a South Korean singer and actress. She made her entertainment debut as a member of The Red, but has since become a solo singer. Career Debut Bae Seul-ki studied Theater and Film at Sangmyong Univers ...

as Go Jae-sook *

Jang Tae-sung Jang Tae-sung (born September 27, 1980) is a South Korean actor. He has mostly played supporting roles. Filmography Film Television series References External links

* * * 1980 births Living people 21st-century South ...

as Lee Byeong-hee * Kim Byeong-seo as Poloti * Kim Seo-kyeong as Chyurining * Choi Young-sung as Adidas * Song Young-chang as Hwan-gyu *

Kim Hyun-sook Kim Hyun-sook (; born October 16, 1978) is a South Korean actress and comedian. She is best known for playing the title character in '' Ugly Miss Young-ae'', a long-running sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) ...

as Organ broker * Go In-beom as Police substation captain * Lee Jeong-heon as Director of internal medicine department

Release

''Tough as Iron'' opened in South Korean theaters on October 2, 2013. It grossed on 1,209,363 admissions. It also received a limited theatrical release in the United States (October 11, 2013) and Japan (May 2014).

References

External links

*
''Tough as Iron''
at

CJ Entertainment CJ ENM Films & Television, formerly CJ Entertainment, () is a South Korean entertainment, film production, and distribution company under CJ ENM Entertainment Division. The company operates as a film production company, film publishing house, in ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tough as Iron 2013 films 2010s Korean-language films South Korean action drama films Yakuza films 2010s Japanese films 2010s South Korean films